Ad fatigue | Advertising is effective (sometimes)

Have you seen the same ad a dozen times and learned to ignore it? Have you ever been watching a YouTube video or scrolling through TikTok and, no matter how interested you might be in an ad, you don’t even stop to watch it? I have not just one; I think my eye has learned to ignore ads in general. This happens to anyone who is bombarded with ads. That’s ad fatigue. In other words, it’s the tedium we feel from so much publicity.

Although ads have a high impact on awareness and interactions, sometimes, for one reason or another, they don’t work. This is often due to a phenomenon known as ad fatigue, which is what I discuss in this article.

What is ad fatigue?

It’s a feeling a new trend in marketing psychology. It’s the exhaustion we feel from the abusive and aggressive exposure we suffer from ads. It is a new trend in marketing psychology and involves a deliberate (or even unconscious) action in which a user ignores an ad. We can call it a reflex. The presence of advertisements on social media triggers this.

Although ads are hardly avoidable, they can be ignored. It can occur directly or indirectly. For example:

• Directly, when a user uses an ad blocker on a website.
• Indirectly, when the user voluntarily decides to ignore what an ad says.

The first method can be found in various ways. Ad blockers are in plugins or VPN services. On the other hand, the second method leads to ad fatigue and involves a psychological response. Here, users train their minds (without any actual intention) to dismiss an ad.

Ads exhibit very predictable behaviors (the content they publish) and display formats (with buttons, ad branding, and specialized messaging). These signals allow the user to deliberately exclude the ad from their feed.

Where does it come from?

In the digital world, it originates with a greater presence on social media and extends to web browsers, streaming services, broadcasting, or specialized apps with remarketing strategies. 

The overwhelming number of ads causes users to learn to disregard all advertising. We have reached a point where ad fatigue is prevalent because several brands and platforms are insistent on generating more sales without regard for the user experience. This is due to:

• Brands that disinterestedly publish ads to any audience.
• We see a vast number of ads in apps like Meta.
• The intrusive nature of certain ads, such as those on YouTube or Netflix.
• The excessive amount of promoted content in search engines such as Google.

Some brands are to blame for perpetuating this. While today’s algorithms strongly favor promoted content, too much of it can lead to consumer fatigue and burnout.

Effects of ad fatigue

Of course, social media platforms and many brands that promote content on them rely on advertisements to generate revenue. Ad Fatigue can negatively affect any campaign. For example:

• Decrease in the number of clicks generated in a campaign.
• Lower awareness, fewer interactions, and less lead generation.
• Higher ad costs with worse results.

It should also be noted that ad fatigue is not necessarily related to implementations, optimizations, or content quality. In other words, some users opt out of seeing ads. Consequently, this can severely affect many campaigns with objectives such as increasing awareness or promoting content.

How to fight against it (ethically and effectively)

The idea is that the ad should not be intrusive, invasive, or abusive. Unfortunately, ad campaigns, in their attempt to sell more, fall into these problems. The result? We find plenty of campaigns with poor results and misleading data.

How can we address this problem? I suggest the following to fight against ad fatigue and publish better ads:

• Demographics. Target your ads to the right audience by age, location, and language.
• SEO optimizations. Use the right keywords and compelling copywriting.
• Friendly content. Know your audience so that your message is tailored to them.
• Data analysis. Study your audience and their behaviors before launching an ad.
• A/B testing. Before launching an ad, test and launch several versions of it.

Remember that you cannot mitigate ad fatigue by running more ads or molding a campaign. On the contrary, our best recommendation is to know your audience well and be responsible. 

This also raises the question of whether it is still worth running ads. Users seem exhausted, they seem to ignore them; even AI is beginning to affect our search results. But rather than “worth it,” we find ourselves in a marketing loop. They are imperative; marketing campaigns, in one way or another, depend on them, but perhaps the way we use them exponentially affects our results.

Listen to the audience and study the data you have. Don’t be invasive, insensitive, or insistent. Ads are an excellent vehicle for generating online leads, as long as they effectively address users’ needs and interests.